Year's End, And a Preview

As the final hours of 2006 draw to a close, it’s a fitting time to look back on the passing year and sum it all up. Without a doubt, 2006 has been an eventful year for nonbelievers: the downfall of Ted Haggard, the conviction of Kent Hovind, the spectacular defeat of the Republican party in the midterm elections, the rise of the freethought movement with several best-selling books by prominent atheists leading the way, and more.

We have made great gains this year, and despite the great violence and suffering still occurring around the world that give reason for sorrow, I cannot help feeling as if there is a new spirit of hope in the air. Perhaps it is foolish optimism, but I feel a growing confidence that the direction of events is changing. In the year to come, we friends of reason may be able to achieve a great deal of good.

My own life has seen great change for the better as well, both personal and professional. Daylight Atheism continues to grow at a rate that has surpassed all but my most optimistic imaginings, with December’s total traffic more than ten times that of its first month, February, and no upward limit in sight so far. It’s astounding to me that this site has now been in existence nearly a year, and yet I’ve touched on no more than a small fraction of the topics I want to discuss! I have a long list of ideas for posts, some of which have been waiting since this site’s inauguration, that I want to write about eventually – and rest assured, I will.

In the new year, I intend to continue writing for Daylight Atheism and to continue guiding and nourishing it through whatever future growth it may see. I have not forgotten the discussion from last October about the possibility of writing a book, and it is still my plan to do so. As this progresses, I will provide further updates on it. Until then, readers, for your curiosity and as a prod to myself, I will offer a preview of some of the new topics I intend to write about in 2007. This is a very tentative list, and I may not get to everything on this list – but its existence, I hope, will encourage me to do so.

A critical view of the “prosperity gospel”, the “Quiverfull” movement and other recent and troubling outgrowths of fundamentalist Christianity; plus, skeptical analyses of Hinduism, Wicca, and other strange and curious sects.

Do You Really Believe That?: Bizarre and irrational assertions made by the world’s religions that even believers should find hard to swallow.

How to Think Critically: In the Observatory, I’ve already debunked many popular delusions. But more important than shooting down each new bit of superstition is teaching people how to think and reason correctly so they do not commit such errors in the future. This series is intended to be a friendly introduction to the principles of rational thinking for people who may not be familiar with them.

Know Your Theocrats: To make effective political progress, we nonbelievers should know who stands against us, what they advocate, and what resources they command. This series will profile some of the more prominent allies of theocracy in the American political scene today.

On the Morality Of…: This year, I wrote The Roots of Morality, laying out a framework for non-supernatural, non-dogmatic moral reasoning. Now it’s time to build on top of that framework. In this series, I’ll apply the principles of universal utilitarianism to vexing moral issues.

Finally, and most tentatively, I have plans to publish a serialized novel in the Loft – not the book I am planning, but something new and different: a work of fiction. Of all the ideas I have listed here, I am least certain that I will get to this one, but the seed of an idea is already in my mind. We will see if it is destined to flower.

Finally, I want to extend my most humble and sincere thanks to you, gentle readers. I am only one person; it is your contributions that have made this site what it is, and I am grateful to all of you for them. In the coming year, I hope that, with my writing, I will be able to repay you for your time and attention and to make your continuing visits worth the while.

The time draws near, and I’ll now draw this post to a close. I hope that 2007 will be a year of peace and reason, and to all my readers, I wish you happiness and prosperity in the year to come and in the future beyond.

it’s already the year 2007 where i write this comment but i just want to say that this is one of the best blogs i had the pleasure of reading in the last year and i’m looking foward to your new posts in the newly arrived year :)

Terrence Kaye

or as my alias, TPK would say….. Happy New Year! Can’t wait for the next round of additions to the best freethought site on the web

Alex Weaver

For that serialized novel of yours…

What kind of editing arrangements have you made? I should be taking notes…

http://www.toomanytribbles.blogspot.com/ toomanytribbles

i have learned a lot from you blog and enjoy reading your posts. you’re on my rss feeder, so keep’em coming!

so thank you, and have a wonderful, hopeful 2007.

lpetrich

Prosperity theology? That could be very amusing, since Jesus Christ had been so anti-wealth. But a more serious aspect is that many preachers of prosperity theology want “seed” money for making that prosperity happen — and guess whose pockets that money ends up in.

Judy

Thank you, Adam, for Ebon Musings and Daylight Atheism and everything you do to help enlighten the people of this world! I hope to be reading you and commenting for many years to come, and hopefully moving toward helping some of the people in my life understand how non-belief can be so freeing.

Happy 2007!

http://dominicself.co.uk Dominic Self

Happy 2007, and congratulations on all your work so far :) Pleasure to read!

Freeyourmind

Happy New Year!

Congrats to a great site and let’s hope freethinkers continue to make excellent progress.

Prof. V.N.K.Kumar ( India )

It is good that you have revealed some of your future plans. It makes one sort of committed to them. Speaking for myself, I am looking forward to reading the series on “How to think critically”. This reminds me of the saying — Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, but teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime ! If everyone starts thinking critically thereafter, we might end up with that many Ebonmuses and that many websites to browse. But I don’t think that will happen, because apart from Critical reasoning, what Ebonmuse has is creativity, synthesizing skills and writing skills, which not many possess.

I have read each post/essay of yours and found it simply beautiful. Thanks.

Alex Weaver

PS: I’m looking forward to some of the posts on less popular religions, particularly Wicca. I know a few at least semi-serious practitioners and the impression I have of it is a combination of ritual superstition and an extreme form of salad-bar theology, including a quote-mining-like approach to drawing from pre-Christian beliefs. Is this more or less correct?

http://www.howtotalkwithconfidence.com/blog Evaine

Good post. You make some great points that most people do not fully understand.

“We have made great gains this year, and despite the great violence and suffering still occurring around the world that give reason for sorrow, I cannot help feeling as if there is a new spirit of hope in the air. Perhaps it is foolish optimism, but I feel a growing confidence that the direction of events is changing. In the year to come, we friends of reason may be able to achieve a great deal of good.”

I like how you explained that. Very helpful. Thanks.

Adam Lee of Daylight Atheism

Adam Lee is an atheist writer and speaker living in New York City. He created Daylight Atheism to push back against undeserved privileging of religion and to encourage atheists to step out of their closets, into the daylight, and take our rightful place at the table of society’s discourse.